


this dance is like a weapon of self-defense (against the present tense)

by orphan_account



Category: Beyond: Two Souls, The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Lesbian Vanya Hargreeves, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Vanya Hargreeves Has Nightmares, Vanya Hargreeves-centric, basically jodie is vanyas new identity, but im going to use the vanya tags for ease of reference, but reading the wiki will help, probably wont make sense in places if you havent played beyond two souls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 16:21:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19995151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When Vanya Hargreeves was thirteen years old, she changed her name and ran away.





	this dance is like a weapon of self-defense (against the present tense)

“ _Vanya_? Oh my god, it’s actually you!”

The name burns its way into her chest, nesting itself in the pit of her stomach. It’s foreign to her, yet already it feels like smoke clinging to her skin, packing her lungs with toxic darkness.

She can’t believe it either. All those years ago, when she’d disappeared into the night without so much as a hushed goodbye, she had expected to leave town and never come back. Somehow, the idea of any family death hadn’t occurred to her, much less Reginald’s. He had always been some immortal idea more than a father; a permanent shadow in her life. She can’t say she feels any different for him being gone.

Still, she’ll take Allison’s towering presence over his. Her sister has clearly settled into the celebrity life, looking pretty in some no-doubt obnoxiously priced brand and polished red heels. Impractical footwear when you’re balancing on a platform of lies.

“Hey, Allison,” she greets, contrasting starkly with Allison’s exhilaration at seeing her estranged sister. Her voice is raw from dehydration and a cocktail of other things from the past few days, not to mention its general lack of use. She only hopes it will be mistaken for the sullen timidity she once had; the runt crawling back to the litter, beaten and broken.

“Hey, sis.” Allison rushes in for a hug and her expression is laden with pity, but Jodie—or Vanya, she supposes—allows herself to reciprocate. It’s awkward and drawn out, but they fall into a comfortable silence, making up for a decade of no embraces. If Allison notices it’s been considerable time since her sister last managed to wash, she doesn’t mention anything.

“What is _she_ doing here?” Diego breaks the silence, and the sisters separate. “You don’t belong here. Not after what you did.”

Vanya freezes. A thousand thoughts fire off in a single moment, possibilities upon possibilities branching off into scenarios that make her chest feel tight and her heart race. What does he know?

“I thought we weren’t gonna mention the book,” Allison chastises, using the ‘disappointed mother’ tone of voice Jodie imagines she uses when Claire takes an extra cookie from the jar. She’d forgotten about the book.

“Well, shit, I didn’t think she was actually gonna show up,” he responds. “She doesn’t bother with Ben’s funeral, but when _Dad_ dies she comes crawling back?”

“ _Diego_ ,” Allison says firmly—argument over. “Way to dress for the occasion, by the way.”

He scoffs incredulously, looking between the two. There is a clear gap between them, but Allison is a few paces in front of Jodie, looking about ready to attack him. He turns tail and stomps up the stairs, mumbling obscenities as he goes.

“At least I’m wearing black,” he calls over his shoulder, smug and self-satisfied with his response, his hunger for the last word satiated. Some things don’t change a bit.

“You know what? Maybe he’s right,” Jodie concedes. She didn’t plan any of this out; it was just a stupid impulsive decision made in a moment of desperation. “I really shouldn’t—”

“Forget about him,” Allison interrupts softly, and Jodie can feel the stomach acid rising up her throat and swimming in her stomach simultaneously. “I’m glad you’re here.” For once in her life, those are the last words she wants to hear. It doesn’t stop her mild surprise, however—when they were kids, Allison was less than amiable to any of her siblings (at least any sibling that wasn’t Luther), never mind the ‘ordinary’ one.

She swallows, licking her lips nervously. It's all she can do not to chew through her own tongue.

“I'm gonna go… look around the place.”

“Me too,” Allison nods in a silent understanding. Jodie watches as she follows Diego's route up the stairs, her heels making pronounced noises against the floor. Allison’s figure disappears into the deep expanses of the mansion, and Jodie slinks into the living room, drinking it all in. Reginald is dead, her family probably thought _she_ was dead, and she’s still being hunted by people that either want to capture and torture her or just kill her. She’s still homeless, too, which means she has two options: stay at the Academy, which is objectively the second-worst idea she’s ever had in her life, or go back to a life of constant running and sleeping on the streets, which is objectively the worst idea she's ever had in her life.

“This whole thing is fucked,” she mutters to nobody in particular, already anticipating how badly this will turn out.

**Author's Note:**

> short but sweet. second chapter will be bigger/longer/cooler. if it seems a bit aimless right now, i promise its intentional. the whole idea of 'oh hey lets go back to the academy for my dads funeral cause i saw about him dying on the news' was pretty much very impulsive for jodie, whos spent a hot minute on the run from a government organisation, so now shes at the academy its more 'ok so what the fuck do i do now'.
> 
> in terms of powers, jodie basically has vanyas powers, with nightmares thrown into the mix to represent the evil spirit things from beyond. aiden doesnt exist . . . sorta. ive got a plan for the whole power thing so dont you worry.
> 
> in the meantime ill be preventing myself from making tua crossovers with literally every piece of media ellen page has ever done


End file.
